Apart from all the hoopla and buzz, it was this quote from Otelline that resonated for me:

“My son is probably going to go buy a Google TV, simply because it’s cool,” Intel’s leader said. “He wants to be able to do his Facebook chat and talk to his friends saying, ‘Hey, are you watching the game?’ in real time. You cannot do that on Apple TV.”

“The phenomenal pace at which social media and social networks have become entrenched within our everyday lives raises the question of their possible long-term impacts on television. The current relationship can be characterised as predominantly complementary, but limited in reach. The future relationship may be more adversarial, with advertising the battleground.

And the report suggests that the younger age groups reveal where there may be the greatest synergy between social networks and media - or essentially that this is the playground of Generation Y.

“The twin genies of social media and social networks will not be popped back into their bottle. And this means that television needs to adapt to Web 2.0’s existence, exploiting its opportunities as much as it prepares against the threats.”

Facebook and Twitter are the behemoths of Social Media online. It's where Generation Y want to play and, though it's nice to include chat and some other features in a few of the vendor's IPTV and Connected TV cases, it's not what they want. They don't want to reform their social graphs yet again.

According to the site insidefacebook.com,
the median age of a Facebook user is 26, but the fastest-growing user
group is women 55 and over, up more than 175 percent since last fall.
Men 55 and over are right behind, having increased almost 138 percent
during the same time period.

It's not rocket science... at least according to New Scientist, who say that TV networks are to become social networks eventually.

Yet many researchers and tech analysts say the most profound change to
our TV habits will come via technology that allows us to share and
socialise via our screens. The winners of the battle for digital
domination in our living rooms, they argue, will be those who work out
how to draw on the success of social networks such as Twitter and
Facebook. New Scientist has spoken to some of the activists of
this potential social TV revolution to get a glimpse of what will be on
the box tomorrow.

We are watching more TV than at any time in the last five years. That statistic is usually followed by 'despite the rise of the Internet'. We're in the opposite camp. We believe TV viewing is increasing because of the Internet. The social web turns TV into an event, a shared experience.

At IFA in particular (a bit less at IBC) there has been so much focus on 3D despite researching showing that 3DTV Sales forecast are dwarfed by Connected TV to the tune of 27.7 million units in 2010 for Smart TVs while 3D set shipments will total only 4.2 million this year. By 2014, global connected TV shipments are anticipated to reach 148.3 million units, accounting for 54 percent of the total flat-panel TV market.”

The hype around Avatar in 3D and other major 3D blockbusters in the cinemas has undoubtedly buildafireunder the CE 3D logpile, but it's a bit baffling as to all the chest beating about it - while Connected TV seemingly lies in stealth mode, as the invisible 600 pound gorilla in the room.

And not many vendors in the Connected TV arena at IBC were delving deep into social TV. Recommendation engines yes. Sure. But real Facebook integration or Twitter? Samsung with its Smart TV's yes. But the majority of the STB and OTT crowd are not getting overly creative with methods of integrating social media into their wares.

I will have more time to spend tomorrow and Sunday with exhibitors, as the first two days were chock full of seminars and meetings - and will give a more detailed analysis.

For now, let me leave you with some more wise words from Philip Bourchier O’ Ferral, Senior Vice President MTV Networks International:

The Future of TV is search, recommendation – leading to findability. And social media is the tool to do this.

About the Author

Founder of The Hackfest, publisher of TV App Market and global expert on Media & TV innovation, Kastelein is an award winning publisher and futurist. He has guest lectured at MIT Media Lab, University of Cologne, sat on media convergence panel at 2nd EU Digital Assembly in Brussels, and worked with broadcasters such as the BBC, NPO, RTL (DE and NL), Eurosport, NBCU, C4, ITV, Seven Network and others on media convergence strategy - Social TV, OTT, DLNA and 2nd Screen etc.

He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and UK Royal Television Society (RTS) member.

A versatilist & autodidact, his leadership ability, divergent and synthetic thinking skills evolved from sailing the world 24000 miles+ offshore in his 20′s on sailboats under 12m.

He spent 10 years in the Caribbean media & boating industry as a professional sailor before returning to Europe, to Holland.

A Creative Technologist and Canadian (Dutch/Irish/English/Metis) his career began in the Canadian Native Press and is now a columnist for The Association for International Broadcasting and writes for Wired, The Guardian & Virgin. His writings have been translated into Polish, German and French.

One of Kastelein's TV formats was optioned by Sony Pictures Television in 2012.

Currently involved in a number of startups including publishing TV App Market online, The Hackfest and Tripsearch TV. As CSO for Worldticketshop he helped build a $100m company.